The present invention relates to an endoscopic instrument for removing an inflated insert from the stomach cavity of a person being treated for obesity, and more particularly to an endoscopic instrument that functions to stabilize the inflated insert prior to and during deflation thereof to thereby facilitate such removal of the insert.
Extreme obesity is a major illness in the United States and other countries. Its complications include hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, venous disease, multiple orthopedic problems and pulmonary insufficiency with markedly decreased life expectancy. Medical management including dietary, psychotherapy, medications and behavioral modification techniques have yielded extremely poor results in multiple trials. Surgical techniques have proven hazardous to perform in morbidly obese patients and fraught with numerous life threatening postoperative complications.
One non-surgical technique involves the use of an inflated flexible, free-floating and unattached, inflatable insert positioned in the stomach cavity, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,267, granted Nov. 22, 1983, and copending application Ser. No. 529,609, filed Sept. 6, 1983. The insert functions to reduce the size of the gastric compartment in a nonoperative manner and has been shown to induce weight loss in a significant percentage of people. While the insert is generally easy to position within the gastric compartment, subsequent removal is sometimes difficult. After the prescribed period of use, removal of the insert is necessary, and the present invention is directed to an instrument for accomplishing such removal. Since the inflated insert is free-floating within the gastric compartment, it is extremely difficult to deflate without first stabilizing the insert. Such stabilization is also difficult due to the general shape of the insert together with the toughness of the material from which it is manufactured and the lubricious characteristic of its outer surface. Efforts to simultaneously grasp and puncture the insert have been far from satisfactory, often resulting in damage to the instrument, particularly when forceps are used.